Facile Synthesis of Cu/NiCu Electrocatalysts Integrating Alloy, Core-Shell, and One-Dimensional Structures for Efficient Methanol Oxidation Reaction.

The design and development of low-cost Pt-free, high-active, and durable noble-metal-free electrocatalysts for methanol electrooxidation is highly desirable but remains a challenge. Herein, unique Cu/NiCu nanowires (NWs) integrating alloy, core-shell, and one-dimensional structures are prepared by a facile one-pot strategy. It is found that the Ni-Cu surface alloying structure can effectively change the charge distribution of the atomic configuration, the core-shell structure can be optimized with the usage of Ni and Cu, and the one-dimensional structure can effectively enhance the charge transfer between the electrode surface and the active sites, making the prepared NWs promising electrocatalysts. Detailed catalytic investigations showed that the obtained Cu/NiCu NWs exhibit an enhanced electrocatalytic performance for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). The optimized Cu/NiCu NWs in this work show a mass current density of 867.1 mA mgmetal-1 at 1.55 V (vs. RHE) for MOR, which is far higher than those of Ni-based previously reported electrocatalysts. This work opens up a new pathway for the design and engineering of noble-metal-free alloy electrocatalysts with enhanced activity and durability.